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Image and statistical analyses of early sorghum remains (8000 B.P.) from the Nabta Playa archaeological site in the Western Desert, southern Egypt
Abstract
Carbonized grains of sorghum, with consistent radiocarbon dates of ca. 8000 B.P., have been excavated at an early Holocene archaeological site (E-75-6) in Nabta Playa near the Egyptian-Sudanese border. The objective of the investigations reported here was to classify these early sorghum grains within the known wild or domesticated races or working groups of sorghum through the use of image-analysis procedures. Image-analysis is a non-destructive analytical method that can provide rapid, repeatable, and accurate measurements of ancient cereal grains. Measurements were taken on samples representing the five major domesticated sorghum races, eight wild relatives, and samples from the Nabta Playa and Jebel et Tomat excavation sites. Statistical and clustering techniques indicated significant differences existed among the sorghums with respect to the various measurements made. Sorghum from Nabta Playa was significantly smaller, with respect to most measurements, than either the wild relatives or the five cultivated sorghums. Smaller grain size and the lack of any spikelets containing attached branchlets of the inflorescence or rachis fragments suggest that the material harvested and eaten at the Nabta Playa site were of a wild type.
... Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is an ancient cereal grain that originated over 8000 years ago in Northern Africa [1]. Sorghum grain is stored in many different ways to reduce its susceptibility to microbial and insect-pest infestation. ...
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) grain is prone to microbial and insect infestation. This study evaluated some quality properties of sorghum grain irradiated with low energy electron beam (LEEB), high energy electron beam (HEEB), and gamma rays. The experimental samples were sorghum grain irradiated at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 kGy, while the unirradiated sample served as a control. The experiments with LEEB and HEEB involved accelerators ILU-6 (250 keV) and ELEKTRONIKA 10-10 (9 MeV), respectively. A Chamber 5000 Co-60 device provided gamma irradiation. The phytochemical, physicochemical, and functional properties were defined by standard methods. The study revealed significant (p ≤ 0.05) reductions in the total phenolic, flavonoid, and tannin contents, although they were not dose-dependent. The total phenolic contents reduced from 6.15 (control) to 3.13 GAE/g (gamma rays), 2.74 (HEEB), and 3.47 GAE/g (LEEB). The total flavonoid content reduced from 3.55 (control) to 1.83 QE/g (gamma), 1.78 (HEEB), and 1.59 QE/g (LEEB). The tannin content reduced from 11.96 (control) to 5.19 TAE/g (gamma rays), 2.58 (HEEB), and 6.17 TAE/g (LEEB). The HEEB treatment and gamma rays reduced the pasting properties whereas the LEEB method caused no significant changes. Irradiation did not change the A-type starch crystals but affected its relative crystallinity. The bulk density, oil absorption capacity, solubility index, and swelling power changed significantly after irradiation. The low energy electron beam treatment demonstrated a good potential as an alternative irradiation source for sorghum grain because it had no adverse effect on its physicochemical and functional properties.
... Recently Venkateswaran et al. [88] listed the studies comparing the morphology of ancient and modern grain [19] and those of biochemical markers such as allozymes [3,63], and a variety of molecular markers, such as Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs), Random Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), Inter-Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSRs) [2,18,21], Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs), Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) [8,15,16] and mitochondrial DNA [27]. They have corroborated previous concepts of sorghum domestication/evolution. ...
The spread of millets after domestication to different parts of the world, particularly to India, which cultivates the maximum number of millet crop species as staple food has been under debate. Common literature document’s introduction of exotic millets (pearl millet, sorghum, finger millet, proso millet, kodo millet, and foxtail millet) to India either during medieval or colonial period. However, recent reviews based on archaeobotanical evidence demonstrate their presence much early, in ancient times. The present mini review discusses this aspect with additional evidence from more archaeobotanical remains found in different parts of the Indian Subcontinent, phylogenetic studies, and linguistic and historical references. Ancient literature corroborates the presence of exotic millets in pre-historic times in India with the possibility of post-domestication evolution of feral or semi-domesticate types and cultigens, generating additional genetic diversity. Considering the conflicting views on the spread of millets and increasing global interest as nutritive cereals there is a need for further evolutionary investigations using both conventional and molecular techniques to accessions from different parts of the world to trace the footprints of genetic diversity and cultigens. Such studies, besides resolving the evolutionary issues shall help identify regions of useful genetic diversity that can be used for genetic improvement of millet crops.
... Navíc se divoké a domestikované formy mezi sebou snadno kříží. Je tedy možné, že čirok byl důležitou, morfologicky nedomesti-kovanou, ale hodně využívanou divokou plodinou už v počátcích holocénu v oblasti jižního Egypta a severního Súdánu (Dahlberg -Wasylikowa 1996, Wasylikowa et al. 1997, Barker 2006. Je to však pouze předpoklad, který předdomestikační kultivaci nedokládá, avšak nevylučuje ji. ...
Book in the Czech language, English summary. Full-text PDF. The text of the book is split into four sections. The first section, The Prologue, is devoted to the history of research into the beginnings of agriculture. We consider it very important as without a detailed depiction of the development of concepts and historical research results it is not easy to understand the contemporary views of this issue. Much of the study deals with environmental archaeology as this science has been at the forefront of research into the beginnings of agriculture, but we also mention the development of paleoecology and agronomic sciences. The second section, with the name The Frames, describes in detail the basic palaeoecological factors (climate and vegetation paleoecology) and social conditions under which humans of the end of the Pleistocene entered the scenery of the agricultural beginnings. We also pay our attention to anthropological research of “relict“ hunting and gathering groups as these archaic communities provide model testimony of possible paleoeconomic practices that may be cautiously used as a reconstructive tool for the situation in prehistory. In the thematically regional core of our study (the third section), called The Centers, we depict events and processes in important parts of the world with the exception of the Americas. For the area of the Near East and China and to a certain extent also Africa and Europe, we used a uniform scheme of interpretation which includes the development of the local climate and vegetation, followed by the description of local communities. The final section of the book summarizes the results.
... Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench), is a cereal crop ranked the world's fifth most important cereal grain after wheat, maize, rice and barley [1,2,3]. The crop is native to Africa with Archaeological evidence supporting that it was first cultivated in north eastern Africa-near the Egyptian-Sudanese border around 5,000-8,000 years ago [4,5,6,7]. It was then distributed to other parts of Africa through migration and middle east and Asian countries such as India and China through trade routes [8;9;10]. ...
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolar (L) Moench) is an important cereal crop grown in arid and semi-arid areas. It is ranked as the fifth key cereal crop globally and acts as a source of grain, animal feed, pasturage, fodder, fiber, fuel, bioethanol, alcoholic beverages as well as building materials. In Kenya, sorghum production is done mainly by smallholder farmers as a key food and cash crop. Most of the country's crop production is mainly in the arid and semi-arid regions with an altitude of between 800 and 2,000 m above sea level. The country's average sorghum yield ranges between 0.7-1ton/ha compared to variety specific average yield of >2 tons/ha. The production is mainly constrained by myriad of factors such as climate change effects, poor agronomic practices, poor fertility management practices, poor pest and disease management, lack of ready markets, lack of organized market infrastructure, poor research-extension-farmer linkages and access to credit Review Article Kazungu et al.; Int. 63 facilities as well as poor sorghum processing and value addition technologies. The current work reviews sorghum crop, with emphasis on its biology, economic importance, ecological requirements, current production status in Kenya and production constraints.
... The northeast quadrant of Africa is believed to be the primary origin and diversity center of sorghum. Shortly after its early domestication around 6,000 years BP (Before present), sorghum spread to India (Doggett, 1988;Dahlberg and Wasylikowa, 1996;Winchell et al., 2017). The Indian subcontinent is considered as the secondary center of origin of sorghum, and the earliest domesticated sorghum appeared in the late Harappan, approximately 4,000-3,700 years BP (Fuller, 2003;Boivin and Fuller, 2009). ...
Chinese sorghum (S. bicolor) has been a historically critical ingredient for brewing famous distilled liquors ever since Yuan Dynasty (749 ∼ 652 years BP). Incomplete understanding of the population genetics and domestication history limits its broad applications, especially that the lack of genetics knowledge underlying liquor-brewing properties makes it difficult to establish scientific standards for sorghum breeding. To unravel the domestic history of Chinese sorghum, we re-sequenced 244 Chinese sorghum lines selected from 16 provinces. We found that Chinese sorghums formed three distinct genetic sub-structures, referred as the Northern, the Southern, and the Chishui groups, following an obviously geographic pattern. These sorghum accessions were further characterized in liquor brewing traits and identified selection footprints associated with liquor brewing efficiency. An importantly selective sweep region identified includes several homologous genes involving in grain size, pericarp thickness, and architecture of inflorescence. Our result also demonstrated that pericarp strength rather than grain size determines the ability of the grains to resist repeated cooking during brewing process. New insight into the traits beneficial to the liquor-brewing process provides both a better understanding on Chinese sorghum domestication and a guidance on breeding sorghum as a multiple use crop in China.
... Fahmy's work, alongside earlier research led by Krystyna Wasylikowa (Wendorf et al. 1992;Wasylikowa et al. 1993Wasylikowa et al. , 1997Mitka & Wasylikowa 1995;Dahlberg & Wasylikowa 1996;Wasylikowa 1997;Wasylikowa & Dahlberg 1999), established that -prior to the introduction of founder crops from the Fertile Crescent -the very earliest stages of 'agriculture' in Egypt were characterised by gathering and exploitation of wild grasses, with sorghum being the most commonly occurring genus. ...
This article discusses archaeobotanical evidence from two Sheikh el-Obeiyid villages and the Bir el-Obeiyid playa, which are located along the course of the Wadi el-Obeiyid and on the top and escarpment of the Northern Plateau, at the northern edge of the Farafra Oasis, Egypt. The villages and playa are both part of a settlement system which developed from the top of the plateau, through its various erosion surfaces, down to the bottom of the wadi. The villages in particular can be considered as seasonal base camps, populated by semi-sedentary groups who engaged in intensive exploitation of the resources available in the surrounding environment during the early and mid-Holocene. These sites can be compared to the better-known Hidden Valley village site located only 20 km to the east, the remains from which were analysed during the early 2000s by Ahmed G. Fahmy. At all the sites investigated to date in Farafra there is clear evidence for gathering and use of sorghum and other species of small-seeded wild grasses, fitting the emerging patterns of intense wild grass exploitation in attractive ecological zones for the eastern Sahara during the 9th–6th millennia BP .
... Sorghum is an ancient crop (Mann et al., 1983), the origin and early domestication of sorghum took place in north-eastern Africa, north of the Equator and east of 10˚E latitude, about 5,000 years ago (Wendorf et al., 1992;Dahlberg and Wasylikowa, 1996). Following early domestication, sorghum spread throughout Africa and Asia by trading and migratory path. ...
This paper attempts to review the major sorghum production constraints, the progress and perspective on sorghum anthracnose (Colletotrichum sublineolum) resistance breeding. The importance of anthracnose in sorghum production and breeding for resistance status and progress were also primly discovered. Sorghum is an ancient environment resilient crop and believed to be a future crop due to its important merits like tolerant to stresses, wide adaptability and low input requirement. Insects and disease are major biotic impediments to realizing the yield potential of the crop. Anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum sublineolum is the most important disease that severely affecting the crop in all sorghum producing regions of the world. Research results revealed that anthracnose resulted in 30-50% or greater yield losses. Several management strategies such as, cultural, chemical and using resistance varieties have been developed. Employing host-plant resistance is the most economical and environmentally friendly approach which can successfully control the disease. Breeding assisted with molecular markers plays a great role in resistance breeding programme as it makes easy to screen large number of genotypes at once. Recent advancement of molecular breeding and bio-informatics tools are playing a significant role in efficiencies and precisions of resistance breeding. QTLs or genomic area for resistance were identified using traditional molecular markers and recent research results revealed discoveries of specific gene and locus using high throughput markers like SNPs using GWAS approach. The discovery of genes/QTL associated with the resistance trait, using the high through put molecular markers like SNPs, facilitates the easiest way for gene pyramiding from different individual genotypes to a single variety, introgression into adapted elite cultivar through marker assisted and editing genes for elite landraces to develop durable resistance varieties. Transgenic approach is now a day becoming a powerful tool to utilize novel alien genes for crop improvement including anthracnose resistance breeding in sorghum.
... Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. [Moench]), native to the dry regions of northeast Africa (Dahlberg and Wasylikowa 1996), is a major food crop in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world (Balota et al. 2008). It is a highly diverse crop that has experienced multiple domestication processes, resulting in five major races differentiated by inflorescence type (Harlan and de wet 1972). ...
Ethiopia, the probable center of origin and diversity for sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. [Moench]) and with unique eco-geographic features, possesses a large number of sorghum landraces that have not been well studied. Increased knowledge of this diverse germplasm through large-scale genomic characterization may contribute for understanding of evolutionary biology, and adequate use of these valuable resources from the center of origin. In this study, we characterized genetic diversity, population structure and selection signature in 304 sorghum accessions collected from diverse sorghum growing regions of Ethiopia using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). We identified a total of 108,107 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) markers that were evenly distributed across the sorghum genome. The average gene diversity among accessions was high (He = 0.29). We detected a relatively low frequency of rare alleles (26%), highlighting the potential of this germplasm for subsequent allele mining studies through genome wide association studies (GWAS). While we found no evidence of genetic differentiation among administrative regions (FST = 0.02, p = 0.12), population structure and cluster analyses showed clear differentiation among six Ethiopian sorghum populations (FST = 0.28, p = 0.01) adapting to different environments. Analysis of SNP differentiation between the identified genetic groups revealed a total of 40 genomic regions carrying signatures of selection. These regions harbored candidate genes potentially involved in a variety of biological processes, including abiotic stress tolerance, pathogen defense and reproduction. Overall, a high level of untapped diversity for sorghum improvement remains available in Ethiopia, with patterns of diversity consistent with divergent selection on a range of adaptive characteristics.
... Image analysis based on seed morphology (breadth, area, circularity, perimeter length, major axis length, rectangularity) was also applied for the evaluation of different sorghum germplasm accessions (Dahlberg, Zhang, Hart, & Mullet, 2002). The same features, breadth, area, circularity, perimeter length, major axis length, rectangularity calculated using image processing, were used for the classification of early sorghum seeds within the known wild or domesticated species or races (Dahlberg & Wasylikowa, 1996 According to Chen, Xun, Li, and Zhang (2010), the seeds of five corn varieties were classified with total accuracy of over 90%, based on selected variables from the shape, geometric, and color features. ...
The aim of this study was to develop an innovative machine vision system based on seed texture and geometric parameters to evaluate their efficacy in the identification of sorghum genotypes. The images of sorghum grain were acquired by a digital camera. Texture parameters were calculated for images converted to individual color channels. The geometric features including length, width, perimeter, area as well as 10 shape factors were determined. The seeds of individual genotypes were classified using the discriminative classifiers. In the case of discriminant analysis performed using texture parameters, the total accuracy reached 95.6% for the model built based on textures selected from all color channels. The complete separation of some genotypes was confirmed by scatterplots. The results of discrimination based on textures selected from color space Lab revealed a total accuracy of up to 94.8%. Discriminative models based on textures selected from color space RGB resulted in a total accuracy of up to 93.5%. Models built based on geometric features provided the accuracy of up to 99% for comparison selected genotypes.
Practical Applications
The classification models developed in this study can efficiently be used for the identification of sorghum seeds. The results of the studies can be used in practice for the assessment of the authentication of seeds of sorghum cultivars in a rapid, nondestructive and cost‐effective way and it can be an alternative to chemical or molecular methods, which are more expensive, long‐lasting and more complicated. Therefore, the application of image analysis is a great novelty of the research for the identification of cereal grain genotype.
The development of agriculture has often been described as the most important change in all of human history. Volume 2 of The Cambridge World History explores the origins and impact of agriculture and agricultural communities, and also discusses issues associated with pastoralism and hunter-fisher-gatherer economies. To capture the patterns of this key change across the globe, the volume uses an expanded timeframe from 12,000 BCE–500 CE, beginning with the Neolithic and continuing into later periods. Scholars from a range of disciplines, including archaeology, historical linguistics, biology, anthropology, and history, trace common developments in the more complex social structures and cultural forms that agriculture enabled, such as sedentary villages and more elaborate foodways, and then present a series of regional overviews accompanied by detailed case studies from many different parts of the world, including Southwest Asia, South Asia, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, and Europe.
Cultural development in the middle Nile Valley from 10,000 to 2000 bp was characterized by significant subsistence changes — from hunting/gathering and simple aquatic resource exploitation to cultivation of domestic sorghum. Research in the Atbara and Khartoum regions enables us to identify distinct technological phases relating to resource diversification as well as specialization. Pottery was an important technological innovation which had far-reaching consequences for development of a more diversified use of aquatic and cereal resources. A basic distinction is made between cultivation and domestication as two separate but interdependent processes — the first a socio-economic process relating to peoples' activities, the second a biological process relating to morphological changes in the plants. Cultivation is considered to be evolutionarily prior and to have constituted the selection pressures which led to the emergence of domesticated plants. Cultivation of sorghum was practised from the 6th millennium bp but domesticated sorghum emerged only around 2000 bp. Specialized pastoralism and the use of secondary products like milk and blood appear to have become important in the late 6th millennium bp. An attempt is made to connect the development of technological traditions with that of Nilo-Saharan and Cushitic languages.
Classifies sorghums within the known world or domesticated races or working groups through the use of infrared spectroscopy, and biotechnological and image-analysis procedures. Preliminary results are discussed and evaluated, but are regarded as highly speculative until a more detailed study of modern sorghum is completed. Of the three methods described, image-analysis coupled with infrared spectroscopy may offer the best hope of non-destructive identification. -from Authors
The simplified classification presented for Sorghum bicolor (Linn.) Moencihs so easy that it requires no special knowledge of the crop to correctly identify mature heads and spikelets. Variation is partitioned into five basic races (bicolor, guinea, caudatum, kafir, and durra) and all combinations of their hybrid derivatives, for a total of 15 races. Intermediate races are designated, for example, as kafir-caudatum, durra-bicolor, etc. Subraces are the commonly used agronomic groups (feterita, kaura, sorgo, sudangrass, etc.) familiar to sorghum workers. None of these requires a formal Latin name.
LARGE quantities of carbonised Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench grains, spikelets (Fig. 1a) and inflorescence fragments sorted from about 2 foot3 of charred material found in a storage pit at Jebel et Tomat (13° 36′N, 32° 34′E) in Central Sudan (Fig. 2), and small amounts of carbonised sorghum found in eleven levels of the midden excavated there, suggest that sorghum was the staple grain of people who inhabited the site. The date of 245 ± 60 AD (UCLA 1874M) was obtained from a concentration of carbonised plant remains in the floor of the pit, which was dug into the dark clay loam on which the midden rests (Fig. 3) probably at about the same time as the accumulation of the middle or beginning of the upper unit of the midden. The remains of wickerwork matting and many fragments of thick stalks of cereal grass suggest that the pit may have been a silo lined with stalks and mats. If so, it is not dissimilar to the pits made today in the area for storing grain.
This paper presents an overview of cultural developments in eastern Arabia during the Late Prehistoric, Protohistoric, and Early Historic periods (ca. 5000–1200 B.C.) as defined here. Emphasis is placed on the indigenous lithic industries, ceramics, architecture, burial practices, and subsistence data, while interregional ties and comparative chronology are treated as well. A unified chronological schema for the entire region is proposed which can function alongside local, regional sequences.
Image analysis made easy — a beginner's guide
- Whitaker